H H Brookins

City officials on Wednesday canceled an $87,142-a-year contract with a troubled South Los Angeles education program that operates out of an office building owned by Bishop H.H. Brookins. Responding to the findings of an investigation of Brookins and the program, a City Council committee agreed to let the contract with the South Los Angeles Development Corp. expire effective today.

The Rev. Hamel Hartford Brookins, an influential bishop and former pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles who became a political power broker, civil rights leader and mentor to former Mayor Tom Bradley, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and many others, has died. He was 86. The son of Mississippi sharecroppers, Brookins rose to prominence in the 1960s and '70s as an articulate, self-assured champion of black political empowerment. He died Tuesday at a Los Angeles retirement center where he had been receiving hospice care, a church spokesman said.

Citing conflict-of-interest concerns, city officials said Monday that they have cut off funding to a poverty program formerly headed by Bishop H. H. Brookins and housed in an office complex he secretly owned and renovated with city funds. The action was taken following inquiries from The Times about the 10-year-old South Los Angeles Development Corp., which has received more than $500,000 in federal funds through the city.

Former President Clinton joined a host of religious luminaries, elected officials and celebrities Thursday night in a tribute to Bishop Hamel Hartford Brookins, the son of Mississippi sharecroppers who rose to become a Los Angeles and international champion of black political empowerment. Clinton praised Brookins, 76, for his civil rights legacy and reminisced about the days when the clergyman ministered in a country church in Arkansas when Clinton was governor.

The city of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit Monday against Bishop H.H. Brookins that seeks to recover $48,259 in city rent subsidies that were paid to a poverty program run by the bishop. The Superior Court suit alleges that Brookins, a leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and longtime mentor to Mayor Tom Bradley, concealed his ownership of the South Los Angeles building from the city in the mid-1980s to qualify for the rent funds.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to file a lawsuit to recover $48,250 in government rent subsidies that Bishop H. H. Brookins improperly collected from the city. The money paid to Brookins is owed because the bishop concealed his ownership in a Southwest Los Angeles building to receive $339,000 in federal loans to renovate the building, a city investigation found. The council voted 9 to 4 to authorize the city attorney's office to file suit.

African Methodist Episcopal Church leaders and Councilman Nate Holden on Friday defended a controversial education and job training program that operates out of a building owned by Bishop H.H. Brookins. "This is a gimmick," Holden said of a city investigation that concluded Brookins had "obscured" from the city his ownership of a Southwest Los Angeles office complex that housed the program. The program was stripped of its $87,142-a-year city contract last month.

Delaying a decision on whether to sue Bishop H.H. Brookins, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday directed the city attorney's office to negotiate with Brookins in a dispute over $48,000 he may owe the city. The council gave the order during a closed session and continued the matter until May 11, Councilman Robert Farrell said. At issue is $48,000 in Community Development Department funds paid to a Brookins organization to rent a building that Brookins owned.

After emerging from a closed session Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council referred allegations of conflict-of-interest involving Bishop H.H. Brookins to the city attorney's office for further review. The council had been scheduled to decide whether to sue to recover about $48,000 the city paid for rent in a Southwest Los Angeles office complex owned by Brookins that housed a city-funded poverty program run by the bishop.

The district attorney's office erred when it dropped a criminal investigation of Bishop H.H. Brookins on grounds that the three-year statute of limitations for fraud and embezzlement had elapsed, city officials said Thursday. Deputy City Atty. Frank Orozco said the statute did not expire until 1989, well after allegations that Brookins disguised his ownership of an office complex to obtain a $336,000 government renovation loan were referred to the district attorney's office.

During the last three years, scandals swirling around Mayor Tom Bradley's Administration have exposed fundamental weaknesses in a local political system once touted as a model of clean government, according to ethics experts, political scientists and elected officials. "It was mythology . . . sold to generations of Angelenos," said Eric Shockman of USC's Unruh Institute of Politics. "We are not 'the city on the hill.'

A key Los Angeles City anti-poverty program is so badly managed that thousands of needy residents are at risk of being shortchanged on services ranging from child care and job training to low-cost home repairs, city Controller Rick Tuttle said Monday. The disarray in the $7-million-a-year federally financed program is so serious, Tuttle said, that an independent monitor should immediately oversee the disbursement and collection of money.

The city of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit Monday against Bishop H.H. Brookins that seeks to recover $48,259 in city rent subsidies that were paid to a poverty program run by the bishop. The Superior Court suit alleges that Brookins, a leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and longtime mentor to Mayor Tom Bradley, concealed his ownership of the South Los Angeles building from the city in the mid-1980s to qualify for the rent funds.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to file a lawsuit to recover $48,250 in government rent subsidies that Bishop H. H. Brookins improperly collected from the city. The money paid to Brookins is owed because the bishop concealed his ownership in a Southwest Los Angeles building to receive $339,000 in federal loans to renovate the building, a city investigation found. The council voted 9 to 4 to authorize the city attorney's office to file suit.

Delaying a decision on whether to sue Bishop H.H. Brookins, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday directed the city attorney's office to negotiate with Brookins in a dispute over $48,000 he may owe the city. The council gave the order during a closed session and continued the matter until May 11, Councilman Robert Farrell said. At issue is $48,000 in Community Development Department funds paid to a Brookins organization to rent a building that Brookins owned.

A City Council committee recommended Wednesday that the Department of Airports cancel lucrative concessions contracts with two firms that have come under fire for paying $7.3 million to a small group of prominent minority group members and women while requiring them to do little or no work.

Two council members on Tuesday demanded that the city strip Mayor Tom Bradley's office of all responsibility for overseeing a controversial program that has awarded millions of dollars in city contracts to politically connected minorities and women. "I'm not willing to put any trust in overseeing this in the mayor's office," Councilwoman Joy Picus said. "That's where the trouble is, where the problems are and where there is no integrity."

Bishop H. H. Brookins recently was paid $130,000 for his interest in a controversial food concessions contract at Los Angeles International Airport, bringing to at least $500,000 the amount he has received since 1985, the concessionaire disclosed Thursday. Officials with Host International Inc. also said they were "surprised" that Brookins refused to share his lucrative investment in the city-approved contract with other minorities.

After emerging from a closed session Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council referred allegations of conflict-of-interest involving Bishop H.H. Brookins to the city attorney's office for further review. The council had been scheduled to decide whether to sue to recover about $48,000 the city paid for rent in a Southwest Los Angeles office complex owned by Brookins that housed a city-funded poverty program run by the bishop.

City investigators have found that on two separate occasions Bishop H. H. Brookins disguised his ownership of a run-down office complex to obtain controversial government renovation loans, according to a report that will be considered today by the City Council. The Times reported in February that Brookins received an initial $238,000 loan of federal poverty funds in 1982 through a non-existent California church corporation that was listed as the building's owner.